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A Paper read before the Military Order of the Loyal 

Legion of the United States, Cincinnati, 

September 5TH, 1883. 



BY MAJOR W. H. BELL, U. S. A. 



PETER G. THOMSON, 
Cincinnati, O, 







IN EXCHANGE 

JAN 5 - m^ 



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A Paper read before the Military Order of the Loyal 

Legion of the United States, Cincinnati, 

September 5TH, 1883. 



BY MAJOR W. H. BELL, U. S. A. 



fN this paper I shall be entirely dependent upon my 
memory for dates, and even for facts ; but, as near 
as may be, at this distant date, so distant from the 
occurrences of which I am about to speak, I shall give an 
account of what took place, as nearly and as fully as pos- 
sible, and take as my point of departure, as the sailor men 
say, the Post of Fort Clark in Western-Middle Texas, and 
the time as about the first of March, 1861. I was a bride- 
groom then, having been married in the ancient city of San- 
ta Fe, New Mexico, some months before. My honey-moon 
was still at its full ; every thing was of a roseate hue, and 
remained so, 1 might add, parenthetically, until, as is, 
I believe, the general experience, it became black and 
blue under the application of the metaphorical broomstick ; 



but, just at this time, I did my duty with a zest and springi- 
ness of purpose that was the outgrowth of my beatitude, 
even to the " shinning it," on all fours, across a log that 
spanned the Las Moras River, to visit a sentinel, as "officer 
of the day," when the night was so dark that the log was 
invisible and the sentinel, apt to make himself discernible 
by the flash of his musket, as he hrst fired and then chal- 
lenged : so that one can well see that my mind was in such 
a condition as to receive only pleasurable emotions, and m}^ 
whole being was rudeh^ shaken, when the news was re- 
ceived at the post, that an amicable division was to be 
effected between the North and the South ; that we were 
to take post on one of the great northern lakes, and that 
we were to be relieved by a company of state troops that 
would be sent up to the post for the purpose. This was 
wonderful news, indeed, but as our newspapers had been 
detained by the uncertainty of the mails, as we supposed, 
for there were then no railroads and our letters were few 
and far between, and the contents confined entireh' to famih' 
matters, those being overhauled and confiscated that con- 
tained other news, as I afterward discovered, we were 
brought tardily to the belief that the facts were as stated, 
and confirmed by the knowledge that the order for the 
evacuation came direct from General Twiggs, then com- 
manding the department, so that matters were soon en train 
for the movement. I was then a second lieutenant of one 
of the companies of the regiment, the old Third Infantry, 
and was the quartermaster and commissary of the post, with 
a large amount of quartermaster's property on my hands, 
among other things a large saw mill, and, I think, a battery 
of si.x brass pieces, so that I must have been also the acting 
ordinance officer at the time. To receive these things it 



• -5- 

was ordered that a " commissioner of the State of Texas," 
so called, a Dr. Cummings, was to arrive with the Texas 
troops, and from him I was directed to take receipts for all 
of my responsibility, and thus cover my indebtedness to 
the United States. But few days were left to us in which 
to make our preparations for the journey, and, among other 
things, it was necessar}' to look about for such transporta- 
tion as would be suitable for myself and my wife. Now, 
I had an ambulance, the one that brought us from New 
Mexico, but I could not get a single mule to haul it. Three 
riding horses were a part of my outfit, but neither of them 
had ever had a collar on his neck, and I was in despair, 
until I consulted Captain George Sykes — afterward Major- 
General Sykes — when he, in the goodness of his heart 
offered to assist me in breaking two of the horses to the 
pole. But here another trouble arose, the ambulance was 
too heavy for the two animals, and 1 was again in the 
depths. Good fortune favored me, however, in the form of 
tiie sutler from Fort Ingo, who was at Fort Clark on a visit, 
and had with him a two horse top buggy. I made a trade 
for my ambulance, with what " boot" I do not now recol- 
lect, and as I had harness, we soon had the horses hooked 
up, and, afcer a few wild dashes, finding that they were 
not going to be hurt, they went along quietly enough, and 
Syl^es and I, during the ensuing time, drove them out every 
day from the front of my quarters and back without stop- 
ping. Then a morning arrived upon which, after reveille, 
we saw a number of strange men moving about the" gar- 
rison, the most motley crew I ever beheld, in, groups and 
singly, examining every thing in sight, and one rather better 
dressed than the others, standing on the porch of the com- 
manding officer's quarters, talking to Capt. O. L. Sheppard, 



-6- , 

who was in command. None were in uniform ; but, " on 
the contrary, quite the rev^erse," unless, indeed, their 
uniform slouchiness could be considered as such, and these, 
we were told, were the State troops that had come to re- 
lieve us. What the commander's name was I never learned, 
or have forgotten, as I was, from that time until we evacu- 
ated, very busy in turning over my property to Dr. Cum- 
mings, to whom I was soon introduced, and at it we went, 
hammer and tongs, and in about two days had completed 
the transfer, and I held the doctor's receipts. On m}^ 
papers were two sets of halliards, one in store and the 
other on . the flag-staft', which I pointed out to the doctor 
through one of the windows of the building, and he was 
willing to receipt for it as of the same length as the one that 
he had measured, although he asked me once or twice 
whether I was sure it was right. Now, in the order for 
the evacuation it was directed, that we were to march out 
with our arms, side-arms, and personal property, and to 
salute the flag, and upon the eventful morning of our exodus 
I was directed to take command of the battery, which was 
directly in front of the flag-staft', and fire the national salute, 
and immediately after the troops were to take the route. 
The wagons were all hitched up and had pulled out on the 
road, the officers' ambulances were at their respective 
doors, and my buggy and the two newly broken hcy-ses 
were standing in front of my " two pens and a passage " (a 
second lieutenant's allowance of quarters), with a soldier at 
their heads. I was about to commence firing, when I 
noticed the officer in command of the Texas troops stand- 
ing at some little distance with somet hing under his left 
arm, that was perfectly recognizable as a flag ; but, cer- 
tainly, not the old stars and stripes, and I determined in a 



second that it should not wave over our heads, or even with- 
in our range of vision ; so, stepping over to the sergeant, 
who had the halHards in his hand ready to lower away as 
soon as the salute had been completed, I whispered to him 
to get the bight of the rope in his hand, and without allow- 
ing any one to see him, cut it in two, and when I gave 
him the signal to be sure that the halliards came down 
with the flag, at the same time passing him my knife, which 
I had contrived, unseen, to open. Being sure that he un- 
derstood the order, I went back to the guns and commenced 
firing, and as soon as the last gun belched forth its volume 
of smoke I threw up my hand toward the sergeant, when 
down came the flag and up went the loose end of the hal- 
liard, whipping about like a snake as it felt the motion, 
until it gave two or three sharp wiggles and passed, like 
lightning, through the block and fell in a coil upon the 
ground. The troops were then wheeled into a column of 
platoons and away they went, five companies strong, to the 
music of the band, down the road toward the coast and the 
starting point for the voyage home, when I crossed over to 
my buggy, assisted my wife to her seat, and jumped in 
beside her. As I drove out I passed the doctor and the 
captain of the state troops, who was stiU standing with his 
flag under his arm ; his face as black as a thunder 
cloud, and without drawing rein called to the commis- 
sioner: "There is the other set of halHards, doctor, if 
you desire to measure them," and was soon up with and 
passing the command, as we wished to stop at a tarm 
house, a mile further on, to get some eggs and butter for 
our trip, and as I got to the top of the hill and looked 
back before we started on the descent, there was no 
flag flying at our old flag-staft', but I could see a man 



climbing it to re-reeve the halliards, and just then I began to 
perceive a mistake that S3'kes and I had made in break- 
ing the horses to harness. We had taught them to pull 
all right, but had never instructed them in the highly 
necessary art of stopping, except at my own door, where, 
really, they had always stopped of their own accord-; for, 
as soon as we got on the down grade and the breeching 
struck them, they started at a brisk gait, and a donkey- 
engine would not have pulled them up, they did not 
know how to stop and absolutely ran away with me at 
a trot, and were only checked by putting them into a 
palling fence that surrounded the farm-house, when it 
is only a wonder that we did not get our necks broken, 
then and there, as on the other side of this fence, and 
close to it, were two. hives of bees, over the apertures of 
which a kind Providence must have put his thumbs or the 
horses would have been covered with the stinging in- 
sects in a second, when there would have been a cyclone 
of horses, buggy, and newly married couple. But we were 
enabled to make our purchases in peace, and when the 
command had passed we were ready and took our places 
in the rear of the train of ambulances, as befitted the 
rank of a second lieutenant, and then, with the back of 
a vehicle to run the pole into, in a case of necessity, the 
team was taught the m3'steries of stopping when it was 
required of them. From here we traveled with nothing 
more of interest than the usual routine of the road, mak- 
ing good daily drives, and a turn out for luncheon and 
to let the mules graze and roll ; camping, for the most 
part, on beautiful spots with plenty of those requirements 
of a traveler of that day — wood, water, and grass. Dur- 
ing this time I heard but litde discussion among the 



— 9 — 

officers of the command as to the situation of affairs and 
the great changes that had come upon us. It did not, 
of course, seem right that the country of which we were 
all so proud, and which was ever before us through 
the symbol of the flag that floated above our heads daily, 
should be dismembered ; but we had known of the long 
existing bitterness that had existed between certain 
factions that were divided by ''Mason and Dixon's line," 
and our orders, coming to us as they did, through legiti- 
mate channels, accompanied by expressions of gratitude 
and almost affection from the state authorities, we thought 
that some compromise had been effected, and that the 
country was divided, as the rumor had stated, and we 
could only obey the orders that we had received. Among 
the officers of Southern birth in the command there was 
no talk or thought of leaving us, as far as I know or can 
recollect ; nor did I hear or witness the expression of 
much feeling but once, and that in the case of an indi- 
vidual officer, who passed us in his ambulance with his 
wife, on his way to his wife's home in Arkansas, to re- 
cruit his health. He and I had been great friends and 
had suffered some trials together, and when his party 
overtook us he got out of his wagon, and taking me a 
short distance from the road, we talked of the situation 
of affairs, as we knew it, when Steen told me, with the 
tears rolling do.wn his cheeks, poor fellow, that he would 
never desert " the old gridiron," as he called the flag, 
as long as it flew ; but, alas, the Rector influence at Fort 
Smith was too much for him, and he died in his first 
battle at Pea Ridge, as a rebel brigadier. Thus we trav- 
eled along, day after day, with but little to break the 
monotony, through long stretches of open country and 



straggling towns, until Sykes gave us something to both 
think of and smell. Strict orders had been given to break 
up the foraging of the men, and the orders had been 
directed especially toward the prevention of the capture 
and demolition of hogs (or "slow deer" as the soldiers 
called them), but in spite of this, four of S3'kes' men had 
been caught in absolute possession of a dead pig. This 
funeral procession of four, with the corpse, was marched 
to the guard tent and Captain Sykes notified, and then 
commenced a punishment that lasted for days, that was 
hard on the offenders and m.ortifying to the hog, and did 
not produce the perfume of either of the " Lubin ex- 
tracts " for the command. He ordered the animal to be 
quartered and a quarter to be hung about the necks of 
each of the offenders, and these necklaces, with their 
pendants, were to be worn day and night until further 
orders. About the middle of the second day, under the 
influence of the warm sun, the effect of this treatment 
began to make itself manifest, for, with the light, easterly 
wind, such odors swept back over the train and the column 
as were never inhaled in the land of " Araby the blest," 
and every body foreswore pork and cussed Sykes' devel- 
ish ingenuity in the same breath. Toward evening it 
became unbearable, and a deputation waited upon him 
and begged him, b}" every thing that he held sacred, to 
give us a rest. The pork was buried, the air became 
pure again, but there was no more hog stealing. Day 
by day we ate up our rations and a part of the two hun- 
dred miles of our journey, until we found ourselves but a 
short distance from San Antonio, Texas, where we were 
met by an orderly with a message from Colonel Waite, 
who iiad by this time relieved General .Twiggs of the 



command of the department. This was a suggestion to 
our commanding officer, that as there was some excite- 
ment among the citizens of that place it would be well if 
the command were marched around the city. Why the 
citizens should be excited we could not, at that time, im- 
agine, as we had had full assurance of their good will 
from their representatives. However, the old regiment 
was not in the habit of sneaking around by the by-ways 
when the main road was open, and Major Sheppard 
called a council of the officers, the matter was laid before it, 
and without a dissenting voice it was determined that the 
trunks and boxes should be opened and full dress uniform 
gotten out and put on ; band instruments unpacked and 
the regimental flags removed from their cases, and that 
we should march through San Antonio with every thing 
that we possessed flying, blowing, and beating so that 
for a while every thing was in confusion and the leeward 
side of every wagon in the train became an extemporized 
dressing-room. In the meantime I was handed an order 
which came by the orderly, directing me to report to ' 
Colonel Waite, in San Antonio, as the quartermaster and 
acting commissar}^ of subsistence of the command, and turn- 
ing my wife over to the care of one of the officers, I got 
into my saddle and was soon dismounting, opposite to a 
group of officers who were standing in front of the Men- 
gar House, the hotel of the city, and upon expressing my 
desire to see the department commander, a gra3^-haired 
officer stepped from the party and said that he was 
Colonel Waite, and when I told him who I was his first 
question was as to how much government money I had in 
my possession. Upon telling him that I had about $3,500 
he seemed verv much excited, and said, in almost a 



12 — 

whisper, that I should not talk so loud or it might chance 
that the money would be taken from me. I replied that 
with the command at my back I did not believe that tliat 
could be done, but he warned me to be careful, and alter 
a short conversation as to the condition of the troops, he 
dismissed me, with directions to return as soon as the 
column had passed through the town, for I had told him 
of Sheppard's determination. I rode to the outskirts of 
the cit}' in the direction from which our people were to 
come, and met them just as thei entered, colors flying, 
band playing, drum major nearh^ turning himself inside 
out with his baton, and every man and othcer as tine as 
brass and bullion could make him ; and now occurred an 
incident that I can never forget. An old, bare-headed, 
gra\-haired gentleman, whose name I afterward found to 
be Bell, a jeweler of San Antonio, also met the column. 
He was wrapped from head to foot in an American flag, 
as a mantle, and stood in the middle of tlie road waiting- 
As soon as the drum major was within a few feet of him, 
he faced about, took the step, and with his head high in 
the air, and his old e3'es flashing, he marched tlirough 
the town and past its hist houses in the suburbs and then 
fell out and was cheered to the echo as the column 
passed him. I was afterward told that he lived in 
San Antonio and was loyal throughout the whole war. 
Seeing the command, to its last wagon, through the cit}^ 
I turned m}- horse and galloped back to Colonel Waite's 
headquarters, told him of the passage of the troops and the 
patriotic incident connected with it ; received some instruc- 
tions from him, then set my face tovvard camp, for it was by 
this time growing late, and the sun having disappeared, 
rapidly becoming dark, and upon my clearing the town 



— la- 
in the direction taken by the column, I was bewildered 
by the number of roads, or trails, that branched out in 
all directions like the sticks of a fan, none fenced in, and 
one looking as likely as the other to be the proper one 
to take ; but seeing a man on horseback ahead of me, 
weaving slightly in his saddle as he rode, showing that 
he was carrying double and that John Barleycorn was 
his crupper companion, I galloped up, and, touching my 
cap, asked him if he would kindly inform me which road 
I must take to find the camp of the troops that had 
passed through the city that afternoon. He pulled up his 
pony, took a cross-eyed sort of a look at me, and then, 
with a suppressed hic-cough, told me that his way lead 
directly past there, and that he would take pleasure in 
showing me my camp fires, which, no doubt, we would 
find lighted on the bank of the Rio Salado, and oft' we 
started, at a moderate trot, conversing as we rode. He 
told me that he too had been connected with the army, 
as a paymaster's clerk, ))ut that he now owned a ranch, 
and was on his way to it, we then broached the subject of 
the troops leaving the countiy, when he turned to me and 
said, very earnestly : "You fellows should not be allowed 
to carry your arms with you. They should be left to the 
State of Texas." I answered him by saying that that 
had already been granted and agreed to, bv the state 
officials, and that all troops stationed in the state should 
so leave. " Yes," said he, with the persistance of a 
drunken man, " I know that, but all the same it shouldn't 
be allowed." This vexed me and I said to him : " Well, 
my friend, if you think that you can get enough men 
together, between this and the coast, to take the arms 
away, why don't you try it?" lie laughed, and coming 



— 14 — 

then into a strip of woods, I saw the twinkle of a fire, and 
he, seeing it at the same moment, stretched his arm in its 
direction and said, " There's your camp, lieutenant, and 
here's my trail," and without waiting for me to thank 
him, dashed up a steep bank to our left and was out of 
sight in a second, and I trotted along to camp to find the 
fires burning, tents pitched, a good tin-cup of toddy, and a 
most savory supper awaiting me. Early morning saw us 
on the road again, and during this day's march public 
opinion, in the form of my better half, was so brought to 
bear upon me that I was compelled to forego the pleasure 
of again ^ pulling the lines over my two sturdy ponies. 
The cause of this change of base being an acrobatic per- 
formance, on their part, that was not down on the bills. 
At a certain part of the road there was a sharp descent 
into the dr}'^ bed of a creek, the road being graded some- 
what to make it easier to pull down and out, thus leaving 
a fourteen-foot bank on either side next to the creek, and 
decreasing in height as the road, got nearer to and finally 
struct the plain above. The carriages were some distance 
apart, and I made the descent very handsomely until we 
struck the bed of the creek, which was only a few 3'ards 
wide, when my near horse did not seem willing or able 
to remove his weight trom the breeching and in leaning 
back and over he touched the off horse on his rump. If 
lightning had struck us, " end on," we could not have 
landed on the upper plateau quicker. There was a 
fierce plunge to the left and up the bank we went, the 
whole outfit standing 'at an angle of forty-five degrees for 
an instant of time, then all hands on a dead level and a 
sudden stop, with fifteen or twenty of the men corraling 
the team. Result, a broken doubletree and my wife's 



— 15 — 

faith gone out of the back of the buggy as we came up 
the incHne, and a pubhc proclamation, made by her, that 
she would not ride another mile behind them. That 
settled it, and the horses were replaced by a pair of 
mules that two of the officers had been riding, and the 
saddles shifted to my stock, and on the long ears of 
the mules my wife pinned her faith, although the aver- 
age runaways, from that to the coast, was at least twice 
a day. The trip, so far, had been such a pleasant one 
generally, that our arrival at Green Lake, some twenty 
miles distant from the coast, as I recollect it, was reached 
all too soon. But here we were, and here we were to go 
into camp to wait for the rest of the regiment to arrive 
at Indianola, from Ringold Barracks, on the Rio Grande, 
as it had been arranged that all of the companies, with 
the band and regimental headquarters, were to embark 
for New York in the same vessel, the Empire City. 
Tents were soon pitched, those of the officers on the 
bank of this beautiful body of fresh water, and those 
of the men a little back from it ; and then we had a 
short time, before dark, to have a look about us, the 
result of which was that we found about five compan- 
ies of the Second Cavalry with the band and head- 
quarters of that regiment in camp just above us, mak- 
ing their preparations for their departure in the next 
transport that should arrive after we had sailed. This 
made quite a large command for those days, as a regi- 
ment of troops, in number, was then seldom seen. On 
this beautiful spot we stayed for three weeks, waiting for 
Major Sibley, with the rest of our companies. Noth- 
ing especial occurring, excepting the loss of one of my 
horses by theft, and the nightly terror of an Apache 



Indian gir\, who was acting as maid to my wife, lest 
the alHgators, one or two of which she had seen, should 
make their midnight meal off her, as she laid on her 
blankets under the extra hy in front of the tent, and 
we generally found her inside, alongside of our bed' 
before morning. At last the commanding officer of the 
camp. Colonel Larkin Smith, became impatient at the 
delay and issued an order that we, with the live com- 
panies of cavalry and their "outfit," should embark on 
the steamer then waiting for us off the bar at Indi- 
anola, and that the companies of the Third, when 
they got around, should take the next steamer. In a 
ver}^ short time we were on the road again, and soon 
found ourselves encamped on a little stream just north 
of the suburbs of the town of Indianola, and as the 
grass was scant here Major Sheppard ordered the mule 
herd and horses to be driven back until the wagon- 
master found better grazing. Intending to go into the 
town on business, I picketed my horse just back of my 
tent with a full scope of lariat, and Captain Brooks 
kept up his carriage mules as he wished to drive his 
establishment into town and sell it. His mules were 
picketed some little distance off and were quietly pick- 
ing up such scant provender as fell within their limits. 
I was sitting in front ot my tent writing, when my 
attention was attracted by a rustling in the tall reeds 
on the other side of the stream. I looked up, and as 
I did so saw a large camel push his way through and 
commence to cross to our side. Others followed until 
six or seven were crossing. I never thought of our 
animals and the well known terror that mules and horses 
have for these single turreted beasts, but as they rose 



— 17 — 

the bank I heard a double-barrelled snort and a whisde, 
then a scramble and a pull, and then the sound of flying 
feet, and jumping up I looked over the side of my tent 
roof and there went Brooks' mules covering the ground 
with immense strides, and, at every jump looking back 
over their shoulders, the picket pins striking the ground 
and bounding into the air to the full length of 
the lariat, as the mules hunted the herd. My 
horse had not seen the camels as the tent was 
between him and them ; but, when I got a position from 
which I could see him, he was standing with his head 
stretched well up and his eyes full of wonder, as to 
what in thunder was the matter with Brooks' mules. 
Just then he caught sight, through ^ ' the tail of his 
eye,' ' of the leading camel, as it walked lazily out to 
the plain beyond. He swung his head around, and, as 
he looked, his tail commenced to go slowly up until it 
perfectly perpendicular, and the loose *^nd fell over 
his back, and then, with a squealing snort that could 
have been heard for half a mile, he commenced a sort 
of a stift-legged trot around a circle at the length of 
his tethers, each stroke of his feet on the ground send- 
ing him two feet into the air like a rubber ball, but 
never losing sight of the camels for an instant. I spoke 
to him, and, as I passed along pulled up the picket pin 
and, coiling his lariat, was soon alongside of him. By 
this time the camels had passed, and as he evinced a 
desire to inspect them more closely I walked out some 
distance with him, but the camels walked so much faster 
than we did that we soon gave it up and went back. 
These animals were owned by a woman in Indianola, 
for what purpose I do not know, as I do not think that 



was 
on 



— i8 — 

they were ever used as beasts of burden, nor did they 
show any saddle or harness marks. The next day I 
sold one of my horses, my buggy, and the double har- 
ness for $60, and made an arrangement, with a citizen 
of Indianola to send my other horse (the one that car- 
ried so high a flag for the camels) to me in the East, 
by the way of New Orleans and the Mississippi River, 
so little did I suspect, or know, of the actual condition 
of affairs in the country. Of course I never saw the 
horse again, and the next da}' we prepared to embark, 
and, for this, we were required to use the services of 
two small steamers, the "United States" and the 
"Fashion," as lighters to go out to our ship, which 
drew too mucli water to cross the Indianola bar, and 
was obliged to lay at her anchors, j^ome ten miles out. 
It was arranged that the troops should all go out 
on the " Fashion," which was the larger boat of the 
two, and the ladies, and camp-women, and children 
(of which there was a swarm) on the "' United States." 
To the duty of caring for them and assisting them 
to get on board of the Empire City, I was detailed ; so, 
before starting, I got the ladies and children into the 
cabin and the brigade of camp women mustered on 
deck, and then, leaving my pistol and the bag contain- 
ing all of my money on the table in the cabin in 
charge of my wife, . I bustled about to see that nothing 
had been forgotten, and remained until the lines had 
been cast oft' at the wharf; when, upon returning to 
the cabin to get every-bod}^ on deck, I found that my 
pistol, belt, and the satchel containing the money had 
all disappeared, and they staid disappeared, too, so that 
I might say that I left pretty much all that I possessed 



— 19 — 

in the land of the hiriat and tlie cow-boy. There was 
no time, however, to grieve over what could not now ' 
be remedied, so I asked all of the ladies to take their 
places on deck, and as there was some swell, which I 
knew would increase as we got to the bar, and possibly 
be breaking a little outside, I caused them all to stand 
in a ring, holding hands, and balancing to the roll of 
the boat, to keep them from getting sea-sick, enjoining 
the ^ame upon the camp women, and was so far suc- 
cessful that I got every female on that boat aboard of 
the steamer without one single tribute having been paid 
to Neptune, although, when we got on the bar, I 
thought that the old United States wouui surt^ly turn a 
summersault. When we got alongside of the ship the 
two would roll apart so far, at times, as to drop a long 
steamship gang-plank into the water, between them, 
and the whole of the railing, on the port side of the 
Fashion, was torn from her from stem to stern. The 
ladies and camp women were, however, transferred 
without accident, and most of them, who had not prof- 
ited by their experience in standing up to the roll, were 
soon below, in their state-rooms. Then came the tug 
of war — the necessary solution of tiie problem as to how 
we were to get the children aboard. To do tliis we had 
to wait for the roll of the vessels together, and, while 
they touched, and as long as they touched, to pass the 
youngsters aboard "by hand." I had the little tots 
huddled in behind me, as I stood on the low rail, hold- 
ing on to a stay and Lieutenant Arnold, of the Cav- 
alry, stood opposite to me on the rail of the ship, and, 
as the opportunity occurred, I passed him a child. Now 
as every camp woman had about six, on an averao-e, 



— 20 — 

it took some time to make the transfer, while each 
woman stood as close to the rail as possible to claim 
her own, it being perfectly easy to tell to whom each 
child belonged (as it was hoisted up for passing) by 
the expression on the mother's face, until it was in her 
arms. The lighters were then paid oft'; the baggage 
stored away forward ; we lay rolling and pitching at 
our anchors, and every one was worn out by the 
work and excitement of the long day, while, some half 
a mile off, further up the bar, laid a gunboat that was 
to convoy us as far as Havana, where it was decided 
that we should take in coal; and, about simdown, a 
boat came oft' from her with the information that she 
would get under way about dark, and would stand oft' 
and on, with more sea room than she had where she 
was, until we should come up ; and I may as well say, 
right here, that we did not see her again until we had 
been in Havana nearly two days, as a tierce norther 
sprang up the next morning, and I suppose that she 
had as much as she could do to look out for herself, 
without bothering her head about us. I know that we 
were kept pretty busy. I will say but little about the 
distribution of the men in the temporary bunks that 
had been put up in the stearage of the ship, Suftice it, 
that the presence of two officers of each command was 
necessary in that black hole of Calcutta to superintend 
it, and, as Sykes and I were the onh^ two of the 
infantry command that could hold our heads up, by 
this time, the duty fell to us. The ship was ver}^ much 
crowded, and to get to the forehatch it was necessary 
to crawl over those who were lying prone upon the 
deck, as limp as dish-rags ; and, when we got below. 



the decks there were just awash with what had been 
the contents of the men's stomachs. Five minutes below, 
and then a rvish up the ladder for a mouthful of fresh 
air. That was the way in which the job was done ; and 
no champagne was ever more exhilarating than the 
great gulps of freshness that we took into our lungs 
when the duty had been accomplished and we re- 
turned to the deck ; but, during the whole of the voy- 
age, it was necessary to descend into the bowels of 
this floating caravansera, at short intervals at night, to 
see that the lights were properly protected or handled, 
so that there should be no chance of fire breaking out 
with this mass of people on board. And now, while 
I think of it, as so much has been said of the desertion 
of officers of the army at that time, let me say, that 
there was not one officer who left Fort Clark on this 
march who was not now on board of this ship, and 
several, too, were Southern men. During the early 
hours of the next morning a "norther" sprang up; 
the vessel labored heavily at her anchors, and it be- 
came evident, as the gale increased, that we would 
have to run for it ; but, at daylight, away oft' to the 
west of us, the smoke of a large steamer was sighted 
and reported, and it was then known that the " Star 
of the West" was in sight with the remaining com- 
panies of the Third on board, and a council of the older 
officers was immediately called to consider whether it 
was expedient, or even possible (with the sea that was 
now, running and the baggage of the two commands so 
mixed in the hold), to disembark the cavalr}^ and take 
Sibley's command on board. It was determined, and 
very properly, so, that it ziu/s not, and the Captain 



of the ship was so instructed. The Government 
of the State of Texas had kept faith with us, but vio- 
lated it most grossly with Sibley and all who came 
after him, and they were all made prisoners of war. 
Of this, however, we knew nothing until long after. 
There was now no time to be lost ; the anchors were 
quickly weighed; our head pointed toward Havana; 
the seas, b}^ this time, running very high and short ; 
now causing her stem to point almost to tlie zenith, 
and then tossing her stern up into the clouds, taking 
your stomach up with you, as you stood well alt, but 
leaving it up there, with ^^our heart and all of its ac- 
companiments, when you started down. Groans, retch- 
ings, and the din of clattering dishes was the order 
of things below, which, with the racing of the screw 
as it leaves the water when she pitclied, and the 
grinding and yelling of the ship's timbers and bulk- 
heads, and the howling of the wind, rendered it impos- 
sible to make one's self heard, unless you could crawl 
into your companion's ear and yell directly against 
his drum. This state of affairs lasted all of that 
day and a part of the next night ; but, as the sun 
appeared, the gale broke : the sea went down rapidly, 
and by noon most of our people were on deck, a 
good deal discouraged as to their sea legs, but willing 
to make an effort. The next day, or the day after, 
— 1 do not recollect the length of the run — we sighted 
the Island of Cuba, and, in a short time, were pass- 
ing into the harbor of Havana, under the guns of Mora 
Castle, and came to anchor abreast of the Custom 
House steps. Hardl}- had the anchor touched the 
bottom before we were surrounded by shore boats, 



— 23 — 

with proffers ot service, or fruit for sale. Among 
these, pushing its way through the cordon of craft, 
came a handsome gig with a gentleman standing up 
in the stern, who hailed us in English, asking from 
whence we came and whither we were bound. 
After he had satisfied his curiosity, or, perhaps, his busi- 
ness errand, he told us that there was a report that 
Fort Sumpter had been t^red on by the people of 
Charleston, South Carolina, but that the rumor was 
not believed. Nor surely did we believe it, as a struggle 
between the sections was some thing that we had not 
thought of— at least, neither I nor those with whom I 
was intimate had so thought — and the matter passed 
without much remark. At first we were not permitted 
to land, but, as soon as it was discovered who we 
were, the Captain General of the Island sent a very 
kind invitation to the officers and their wives to visit 
him at the Palace, at the same time presenting us with 
the liberty of the city, and we responded in full uni- 
form, being received very kindly; after which we 
strolled about, seeing the sights, listening to the music 
of the magnificent band, riding in the volantes, seeing 
the black negroes at Dominica's kneeding the hot guava 
jelly, naked to their waists, the perspiration streaming 
into, the mixture — since which time my wife has lost 
her taste for guava — and pitying the strings of galley 
slaves, who shuffled along to their work, chained two 
and two, with stooped backs, and all of the hope gone 
out of their faces, and then bacl^to the ship for sup- 
per, and a rest; and, as we went off in the boat, we 
saw, for the first time, the Confederate flag flying at 
the mast-head of a schooner; but, as the flag was not 



— 24 — 

recognized by the Cuban Government, the}^ were not 
allowed to fly it at their gaff, nor had they been al- 
lowed to pass the Castle with it displayed as they came 
in, or, as far as I could And out, was an}- especial 
significance attached to it. Here we laid for two days, 
and on the afternoon of the second da}', our convoy 
came in, saluted the Castle, and dropped her anchor 
near us, when we found that the norther, that we 
had encountered, had driven her far out of her course, 
and that she had been, only now, able to make the 
harbor. And now we were coaled, and, just before 
sundown, we got our anchor, passed through the nar-, 
row gate of the entrance, with the huge rock on which 
the fort was built frowning down upon us, one of our 
bands playing the national airs of Spain ; and, when 
the sun dipped into the Gulf for his evening bath we 
had Mora Castle well astern, and ' were rolling along 
in a most jolly sort of a way for the broad bosom of 
the Atlantic. From here, the voyage was without 
incidents of especial interest, though most enjoyable, 
until we were boarded by the pilot, off Sandy Hook, 
and then a shell of news was dropped into our quiet 
camp, whose explosion brought with it the utmost con- 
sternation and sorrow. Never can I forget the effect 
that this story of the pilot had upon every one on 
board of the ship, fore and aft ; nor can I expect to 
describe it in such a wav as to take you back with me 
to that time and place you at my side on the deck of 
that steamer. His news was that Fort Sumpter had 
fallen to the guns of rebellious South Carolinians, 
and that fighting was now going on all over the coun- 
try. This, of course, was exaggerated ; but w^e did 



— 25 — 
not know it, and thought it the truth. Recollect that we 
had come home perfectly ignorant of the true state of 
affairs, with no thought but that what was told us in 
Texas was true ; not brought to the crisis gradually, as 
the people of the North had been, but shoved against 
It in all of its hideousness, without a moment's warn- 
mg. The blow was stunning, and, as we got closer 
to the city, and boat after boat passed us loaded with 
troops and munitions of war, colors flying, bands filling 
the air with patriotic strains, soldiers rending the skies 
with their cheers as the boats passed or overtook each 
other, I saw men and officers clinging to each other 
and crying like children, until poor old Captain Whit- 
ing, of the Second Cavalry, tore himself away from his 
friend, drew the back of his hand impatiently across 
his eyes to clear his sight, and then, jumping on the 
rail and clinging to a back stay, he called the men to 
attention, and sang out, "Now, men, give the old flag 
three times three with a will, and take the time from 
me," and with a wave of his hand and a hip ! hip ! ! 
hipl!! such a yell, and such another, and then such 
another went up from that deck as I have never heard 
before or since— full of tears, full of rage, and better 
than all, full of devotion to the dear old "gridiron." 
And now the war had begun, and the time "before the 
war" had ceased, and, with it, my theme has come 
to an end, and I thank you, comrades, for your kind 
attention to the recital of my memories. 

, W. H. BELL, 

Major and Commissary of Stibsistence. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





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